Painting with janice W.

I believe that teaching technique is the first step teaching a student how to paint. By beginning with how to mix colors apply paint and basic drawing skills, this gives a student the opportunity to eventually paint all that their heart desires! Of course, this will take patience practice and lots of guidance, however, I am here to provide support and inspiration and help you build confidence in your own abilities as you develop and grow. As I demonstrate for my students different techniques that I employ in oil or acrylic painting (such as drybrush, wet-in-wet, blending, hard & soft and lost & found edges and so on,I have each student practice the technique on small work boards. It may help students to label the technique as they move along so that they can help remember when they look back at their sample board. Our first session is also spent getting to know our paint supplies, such as brushes, paint colors and palettes. Students also make a small color chart for future reference and to try out color mixing and learn about values. Next, we make a painting! I usually choose a landscape image, and have a line drawing for them to transfer to their paper. We work together, step by step, to create fairly identical paintings. This gives me a chance to observe their technique and offer suggestions in a situation that I control. It is remarkable how different each painting will still turn out to be. Between sessions, I do like to give homework for those who want to work at home, – usually just a reminder to practice the techniques—and I tell them to have fun with their paint and brushes. For others, painting once a week under my guidance is enough. We just want to have fun, learn, explore and paint!